BJP ready to sit in opposition in Delhi: Gadkari

BJP claims it will even accept a coalition between AAP and Congress, if the two decided to form a government. Neelam Pandey reports.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said it is ready to sit in the opposition in the assembly after it won the Delhi 2013 elections but failed to secure a majority.

The party claims it will even accept a coalition between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, if the two decided to form the government in the city-state.

“We don’t have the numbers so we cannot form a government. We have heard the Congress is willing to extend support to AAP, and if that happens, we are ready to accept their government and sit in the opposition,” former BJP president Nitin Gadkari told Hindustan Times on Monday.

“Delhi needs a government, and it is immaterial who forms it.”

The BJP held a meeting on Sunday night with Gadkari, the party’s in-charge for the Delhi polls, and it was decided they would not approach the lieutenant governor.

Party sources said the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan has categorically said he would not get into any last minute horse-trading or alliance to form the government.

“Vardhanji is very clear that the BJP had gone into the elections promising a clean government, and at no point would he want to give an impression that the party is power-hungry,” said a BJP member on condition of anonymity.

A meeting of all MLAs would be held on Tuesday to formally elect Vardhan as their chief.

A number of other senior BJP leaders maintained that with the 2014 Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the party’s national leadership would not take any step that may affect its chances.

Meanwhile, the state unit is busy analysing where it went wrong as it lost seats that are considered BJP’s stronghold, such as Tilak Nagar, Greater Kailash and Shalimar Bagh.